Die Geburtsurkunde

First big setback today when I learned that Pennsylvania lost our request for Paige’s birth certificate so I must re-order it.  As mentioned in my last post, I won’t whine about this but it is pretty annoying.  We won’t have to pay twice but our new order goes to the end of the queue so it’ll be another month before we get it (or more if it’s lost again).  Like I said, no whining.  Let’s just say that I’m bringing it up in hopes of helping future Schweizermachers.  Clearly, this is a workstream to initiate at the beginning of the process and as a professional project manager, I know that it’s all about identifying and addressing critical paths.  

Naturalization meeting

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an invitation that we’d received to attend an information meeting for Basel residents who’ve recently become eligible to pursue Swiss citizenship.  I mentioned a comment made by a neighbor who wondered whether the invitation was distributed only to those possessing first world passports.  Well, last night the meeting took place and I can say unequivocally that the invitation list was blind to national or socioeconomic standing.   There were over 300 people crammed into the Grossratssaal (another of the many very beautiful rooms in the various Basel government buildings) in the Basel Rathaus.  There were people in the seats.  People in the tribune.  People in the aisles and along the back wall.  There were even people sitting in the seats reserved for the members of the Cantonal Council during the bi-monthly meetings.  It was definitely not the cozy little gathering of twenty or thirty people that I expected. 

The question of whether such a turnout was expected by the organizers was settled with the first few words from Mr. Michel Girand, Head of the Migration Department, when he opened the meeting by saying how astonished they were by the crowd.  He was undaunted, however, and moved ahead with reviewing the agenda before handing over to Mr. Bashi Dürr, a member of the Cantonal Council.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t see Mr. Dürr from my seat in the balcony but I could hear him and was thankful that he and his colleagues addressed us in High German and not the Basel dialect that continues to elude me.  He welcomed us, saying a few words about what it meant to become a Swiss citizen then passed the baton to Mr. Oliver Meury (Office of Naturalization and Residency Permits) and Dr. Stefan Wehrle (Basel City Council member) who carried the ball the remainder of the meeting.  Mr. Meury began by reviewing the process, noting that it all begins with a visit to the Immigration Office, which is only possible on Thursdays.  As he said that, he remarked that this was coincidently the next day then quickly added that it would be best if not everyone in the room that evening were to stop by.  The comment was certainly not planned and resulted in a ripple of laughter which loosened up the crowd.   He then shared a video of street interviews with people who were asked whether they were Swiss and what it meant to be Swiss.  Most of them spoke in pretty heavy dialect so I couldn’t understand much of what they had to say but they were anyway pretty funny.  One lady in particular, who from my perspective might as well have been speaking Russian, communicated sufficiently through her facial expressions and cadence that I found myself laughing just as hard as those in the room who actually understood what she was saying.    

In the end, none of the information communicated was news to me as I’ve made quite a project of understanding the process and pretty much everything is available via the internet but what I did get out of the evening was a feeling for the enthusiasm within the crowd.  These folks were clearly interested in doing this.  They were happy to be in the room and weren’t doing so just to participate in the inevitable Apero at the end of the evening.  The second half of the meeting was reserved for Q&A with Mr. Girand circulating around the room, handing the microphone over to one participant after another for their, often very personal, questions. One lady introduced herself as being from Aleppo and her question had to do with her birth certificate.  As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, one of the requirements for applicants is that they provide an original copy of their birth certificate issued not more than six months ago.   She remarked that the office where she would get hers no longer exists and she is afraid to return in person to find out what she must do.  Her question was simple.  What are her options?  The crowd was silent as she asked this.  Mr. Meury told her to stop by the Zivilstandamt to speak with someone there.  She asked if he would personally help her.  Her boldness in asking this, and the way in which she did it, wasn’t cheeky.  It was touching.  The crowd responded with supportive laughter, then Mr. Meury said he would and the crowd cheered.  It made me feel good and I resolved to stop whining about Pennsylvania’s delay in providing Paige’s certificate. 

I stopped by the Apero as I was leaving the building and there, on the tables, was proof that they did not expect over 300 people.  A few baskets of crackers and five or six of those savory cakes with bacon specks.  I left them to everyone else and went home for dinner.

Integration

Demonstration of assimilation into Swiss society is a key aspect of the Naturalization process.   This was evident in the oral part of the language test and there are also two questions within the application form that touched on this.  In the first you must describe how you participate in the social and cultural life of the local community and in the second how you interact with Swiss people.   To me, these questions make complete sense and are perfectly reasonable.  Swiss citizenship is not a trophy.  It represents not only a willingness but a desire to buy into the way of life here.   As a citizen, you will have the right to vote, which means you can help shape things, so the process seeks to identify those who may try to change the country culturally.  Improve it or refine it, of course, but not fundamentally change it.  For those who just want to live here, whether it’s for economic, work or political reasons, the various residence permits offer ways to do this.    Citizenship, however, is for those who like Switzerland for what it is, not just for what it offers, and who feel at home already. 

It is interesting to me that the question in the form notes participation in the local community.  Switzerland is made up of 2,222 municipalities (Gemeinde) speaking four official languages and countless local dialects and this question is a recognition of the role of these local communities in making the larger Switzerland what it is.  The inherent diversity of the communities makes up the commonality that is the entire country.   Sure, the Zürchers make fun of the Baslers but we make fun of them right back.  And everyone makes fun of each other’s dialects. But no one would wish ill will towards another town or city.  Unless you’re talking football of course. 

Die Sprachstandanalyse

The Sprachstandanalyse is the language test and is, after the basic residency requirement, the first prerequisite in the Swiss citizenship process.  At the Federal level they don’t get more specific than simply “language” because Switzerland has four official languages; German, French, Italian and Romansh and while you’ve probably heard of the first three, the last may not sound familiar.  Romansch is the predominant language for roughly 35,000 Swiss citizens, most living in Graubünden, a canton in eastern Switzerland.  They’re a proud bunch that no one wants to offend and even though you won’t find it used on products in the grocery story it retains its official status.  Fortunately, we won’t have to master it.  Our obligation is to demonstrate competency in only one of the four which, for us, in Basel, is German.  In developing our test strategy, Lisa and I decided that I’d take the test first so I could scout it out and give her a summary of what’s involved.  No need to sweat away time drilling on the genitive if it won’t be on the test.  Paige, of course, places out by virtue of having done all of her schooling in the Basel school system.  So, I signed up for one of the Saturday morning slots, paid my CHF 180 and boned up a bit on the grammar (including the genitive).   As it turned out, any anxiety I might have felt was unwarranted as the test was much easier than expected.  I would even go so far to say that it was fun as the oral part was just a twenty-minute conversation with two nice ladies during which we got carried away and almost went overtime.  We laughed and clucked together like a couple of old hens.  After hearing this, Lisa permitted me to register her and this past Saturday killed it.  It was pass/fail but I’m sure she got an A+ so now, at least from a language perspective, we’re good to go.  The only hole remaining in our full application package is an updated birth certificate confirming that Paige was born.  Come on, Pennsylvania.  You’re holding us up!

Eine Einladung

The other day we received a notification informing us that we’re now eligible to apply for citizenship.  The letter even included an invitation to a presentation led by Mr. Bashi Dürr, a member of the Basel City Council.  Of course, I obviously already knew about our eligibility but I took this to represent a personal invitation.  How nice, I thought, that they’re encouraging us.  It made me feel special.  A few days later I mentioned this to our Dutch neighbor who said that she’d also just received the same letter.  Hmm, I reflected, feeling a bit deflated.  Maybe we’re not so special after all.   She then went on to cynically opine that both of us had probably received the letter due to the lofty status of our western passports and that those from developing countries may not have received the same encouragement.   Suddenly, I not only no longer felt special but felt, dare I say it, profiled, and while this might represent “positive” profiling, it still felt wrong and for us it could quickly turn negative due to association with the deviant currently occupying the Whitehouse.    Sadly, these are the kinds of thoughts that float through our minds these days owing to the frequency with which we must parry inquiries from people we don't even know about the Obergroper’s last tweet.  Would our upcoming interviews with the immigration committee turn into a grilling session during which we would be asked to defend his narcissistic behavior and, by extension, his decisions putting the climate and our entire planet at risk?  In an effort to be rational, I tried to think this through as would a Swiss and decided that my friends and neighbors here wouldn’t take either of these positions.  Our adopted country would have certainly sent this letter to everyone who became eligible this year, including the tired, poor and huddled masses and I was equally sure that we would not be held responsible for Voldemort’s narcissistic behavior.  This perspective immediately lifted my spirits and re-inflated the balloon of enthusiasm I’d been enjoying as we worked through the naturalization process.   And before I forgot, I made a note in my calendar to reserve the evening of May 2^nd to be at the Rathaus to hear what Mr. Dürr has to say.  

Fit für Basel

It may be that for every family project there is one person who champions the effort while the others sort of go along for the ride.  For example, a few years ago we got a new bed and while my input was sought, I was clearly not the driving force.  In the case of our citizenship project, however, it’s clear that I am the driver.  You might think it would be Paige, as she has the most at stake, but it’s not, probably because she doesn’t know any better.  Lisa sees the value and while she’s not reluctant, she’s not chomping at the bit either.  It’s my deal.  In any event, while we wait for our birth and marriage certificates to arrive from the US, I looked into what is coming up and saw that at some point we will be invited to an interview with the Naturalization Committee (Gespräch mit der Einbürgerungskommission).  Have you noticed how the German terms for most things are generally scarier and more intimidating than the English versions?  I wonder why that is.  Anyway, after seeing this I thought no time better than the present to begin preparing and it turns out that Basel offers a class to help you prepare.  It’s called Fit for Basel and it covers everything you will be expected to know about Switzerland with an emphasis on Basel.  Topics include history, culture, economy, geography and government, all addressed in five one and three-quarter hour sessions.  There is even a tour at the end.  Wow, I thought.  What fun!  Everybody should do this, even if you’re not applying for citizenship.  So I texted Lisa, proposing that we sign up.  I noted that the course was almost booked out for the Spring but there was still an opening for the late May option.  Perhaps not enthusiastically but at least not reluctantly she told me to go ahead so I did.  The next day, however, I received a call from a lady at the Bürgergemeinde who mentioned that she looked us up in their system and saw that we were quite early in the process and that the interview for which this was preparation would likely not take place for six or eight months at the soonest.  Wouldn’t we prefer to wait?  No, I thought to myself.  I wanted to do it next week and was disappointed that we’d have to wait until May.  It appeared that I’d actually exceeded their enthusiasm threshold.  Maybe this was a sign.  Feeling a bit like the dog that thought it was going for a walk but learned that the move towards the front door was only to retrieve the mail, I allowed that, sure, we could wait.  I would register again in the Fall when we were further along. 

But I made a note in my calendar.

Referezpersonen

The main application form requires that we provide the names of four Swiss citizens who currently live in Switzerland and who know us well.  Actually, the form asks for at least four, then provides space for four exactly.  To me, the request as worded meant no less than four and the more the merrier so I called the office for clarification, asking if it was okay to provide an extra sheet of paper to accommodate some additional names since we have an abundance of Swiss people who would happily vouch for us.  The guy I spoke with seemed a bit confused by my question, though, and in the end said that they only wanted to see that we knew at least four Swiss people.  Wow, I thought.  We’ve lived here twelve years.  I would hope that we can scrape together at least twelve real live Swiss people who know our names.  I’m sure that the rest of the process won’t be as simple as this.